The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in the present disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by the inclusion in this section.
Wireless communication systems experience increasingly heavier loads with the widespread adoption of smartphones, tablets, mobile hotspots and the like. Device-to-device (“D2D”) communication may improve functionality and/or services available at a device by, for example, increasing bandwidth. D2D communication may allow a user equipment (“UE”) to communicate directly with a second UE through a direct local link that circumvents an evolved Node B (“eNB”) or other base station. Often, two UEs that are to engage in D2D communication may be relatively proximate to one another, allowing for increased data transfer (e.g., high bit rates) that corresponds to decreased power consumption.
In addition to D2D communication, the inclusion of one or more small cells in a wireless network environment may aid in the management of increased traffic on a wireless network. A small cell is typically provided through a device that is a low-powered radio access node that may operate in licensed and/or unlicensed spectrums. These low-powered radio access nodes have a transmission power that is less than that of a macro node or other high-powered cellular base station. For example, the range of such low-powered radio access nodes is often between ten (10) meters to two (2) kilometers, whereas the range of a macro node might be several tens of kilometers.
To realize the benefits of D2D communication and small cell enhancements, synchronization may be performed across the participating devices. Synchronization may ensure that one or more UEs participating in a network, such as a radio network, operate according to parameters defined by an appropriate standard (e.g., the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard). For example, a device (e.g., a low-powered radio access node or a UE) may transmit a discovery signal to a proximate UE so that the proximate UE may perform operations related to timing acquisition, paging, data exchange, and the like.